Coffee Break
by TheSilverArgents
Summary: "Look, in my defense, the moment you mentioned bottled coffee I knew I had to escape for a minute." post Blood of Olympus


_A/N: So I finished, Blood of Olympus and I loved it so much! I really needed to write something for it and I just have this weird feeling that Nico is a bit of a coffee snob, so here. Enjoy!_

If Nico had been allowed to bring his Stygian sword with him he would have probably run it through whoever the person was that was shaking him awake. Instead he lifted his head from the pillow and glared at the shaker, Will Solace, "There better be an amazing reason for this."

Will snorted, "Yeah, the reason being that I thought you were a son of Hades, not a son of Hypnos. It's two-thirty in the afternoon, it's time to rise and shine." He ran a hand through his hair and smirked a little bit which made Nico attempt to stay angry from being awoken.

"I don't shine." Nico muttered, wrinkling his nose at the word.

Will let out a huff that sounded a bit like a repressed laugh, "That shirt you were wearing during the battle did, was it Hawaiian print? Very scary." Nico willed himself to not blush at the memory of the horrendous shirt and sighed, "It wasn't my finest hour."

Will shook his head, biting back a smile. "Okay, but in all seriousness you've got to get up at least for a little while." Nico raised an eyebrow at him and Will decided to add as an afterthought, "Doctor's orders."

"Do you think I'm going to do everything you say just because you add 'doctor's orders' at the end?" Nico asked amusedly.

Will opened his mouth to try to come up with an answer to that but stayed stumped and just shrugged. Nico finally sighed after a moment, "If I can get up and go make myself some coffee right now, I'll get up in the morning for the next two days."

"Ha!" Will scoffed, "You aren't leaving my sight, Death Boy, and since I'm all but living in this infirmary for the next two weeks, at least, you're staying put for your three days. Think again."

Nico rolled his eyes at the moniker, "Coffee'll wake me up, I swear. And if you let me get up, I'll even make you a mug too."

Will leaned in close enough to notice that his eyes were a green-gray sort of color. "Nice try." He stood straight again and said, "If it makes you feel better I know the Stolls have some of those bottled Starbucks frapps in their cabin, I can get some for you."

Nico grumbled, his eyebrows creasing together as he shot a glance towards the door, "Wonderful."

"Wonderful." Will agreed with a smile as he walked away to find the Stoll twins.

* * *

Will returned to infirmary holding a chilled bottle of some Starbucks frappe to see that Nico di Angelo was missing. "Where in Tartarus' name is he?" Will bellowed, making some of the patients who were in bed obediently unlikecertain people. His half-sister from, Wendy, from Apollo raised her hand timidly, "He said you let him go make coffee."

Will looked up at the ceiling as if to ask, "Why me" and ran out the door to the Big House.

* * *

The moment the door burst open, Nico knew he was doomed. "Honestly," Will's voice asked from the doorway, "What were you thinking? That I wouldn't notice you were gone?"

Nico turned to him for a second to see him leaning against the doorframe looking half pissed-off, half relieved. "Certainly wouldn't be the first time it happened." Nico stated before turning back to the coffee maker which was beeping insanely to notify him that the coffee was ready.

Will let the sentence hang in the air for a minute before saying, "Well, I did notice; I noticed you were gone and didn't follow my instructions."

Nico let out a small laugh and said, "Look, in my defense, the moment you mentioned bottled coffee I knew I had to escape for a minute."

Will snorted, "Coffee snob."

Nico's eyebrows raised, "Am not."

"You so are. You had to escape an infirmary to go make your own coffee. Face it, di Angelo. You're a coffee snob." Will laughed at the look of horror on Nico's face, it was fun to mess with him this way. Finally, Nico shook his head and said, "This macchiato is life changing, okay. You'll understand why I needed to escape." Will noticed he said 'macchiato' with a natural Italian accent and he tried to convince himself it wasn't kind of endearing. Nico slid a mug to Will across the table and lifted his own mug to take a sip of the steaming coffee. Will brought his own mug to his lips and took an experimental sip.

Will was sure the coffee was delicious, but he couldn't really tell because of how freaking hot it was. He half-slammed the mug onto the countertop making Nico raise his eyebrows in question. Will took a deep breath, "You're drinking fire."

Nico snorted, "Your weak, Solace." as if to emphasize his point, Nico downed the rest of his coffee. When he lifted his head he had an easy smile, "Hot coffee is nothing compared to the Phlegethon." The smile faded immediately.

"Isn't that the river in Tartarus?" Will asked, "The fire one?"

Nico nodded without speaking and turned to the coffee machine to pour himself another mug of coffee.

After a beat, Will inquired with a bit of curiosity, "So, you've been to Tartarus, like actually been the-"

"Yes, I have." Nico snapped, "Now can we just drop it?"

Will pursed his lips and took another sip of the cooling coffee, letting a heavy, semi-awkward silence sit between them. After about three seconds it got to be too much for him and he started, "Look, I shouldn't have brou-"

At the same time that Nico sighed, "I'm sorry I'm a dick sometimes, it's just…genetic, I guess."

They looked up at each other and Nico cracked one his smiles which brought a grin to Will's face. In an unspoken agreement, they immediately put the last five minutes behind them and Will said, "You know what this coffee needs?"

"Enlighten me." Nico replied in a monotone.

"Two words, my friend." Will walked over to the refrigerator and pulled something out and held the bottle out to Nico, "Whipped. Cream."

Nico shook his head fervently, "Don't do this to me. That macchiato is masterpiece, it's not even supposed to have that much dairy in it."

Will began to shake the can, "I'm not ruining your masterpiece, just giving it a special touch. Besides, whipped cream is how Starbu-"

Nico threatened with wide eyes, "Finish that word and you won't get coffee tomorrow."

Will looked at him defiantly and said, "Bucks." and sprayed the whipped cream over the coffee. Nico whimpered and glared at Will's mug (which now had a huge glob of whipped cream) as the other boy took a sip of it, coming away with a bit of whipped cream on his nose.

"There's some on your face." Nico pointed out, with a small smile.

* * *

The next day when Will woke up, there was a mug of coffee on his bedside table topped with whipped cream.


End file.
